Rifle-range.



No. 731,967. PATENTED JUNE 28, 1903. J. DB ST. LBGIBR & E. HBRBAGE.

RIFLE RANGE.

uruoumn FILED D1105, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

INVENTOHS Jon 'de Jleyier Z7; 'a/zf'raya NO MODEL.

WITNESSES:

No. 731,967. PATBNTED JUNE 23, 1903." J. DE ST. LEGIER & E. HERBAGE.

RIFLE RANGE.

APPLICATION rum) D30. 5, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

imwzv W/ITNESSES:

A TTOHNEY UNITED STATES.

Patented June 23, 1903 PATENT ()FFICE.

JOHN DE ST. LEGIER AND ELIJAII HERBAGE, ()F HICKSVILLE, NEW YORK.

RIFLE- RANGE.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,967, dated June 23, 1903. Application filed December 5,1902; Serial No. 133,988. (No model.)

To (1 7 6 whom it may concern..-

Be it known that we, JOHN DE ST. LEGIER and ELIJAH HERBAGE, citizens of the United States, and residents of I-Iicksville, in the county of Nassau and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Rifle-Range, of

which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a target-box so constructed that it will be quickly freed from smoke and to so construct the sight tube or tunnel that the smoke will pass out therefrom almost simultaneously with the explosion, enabling a marksman to r 5 plainly firing.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a device which is a fixture in the targetbox, whereby the target may be quickly and conveniently coated, painted, or cleaned after each shot or after any desiredtime, the brush of the device being operated from the front of the sight tube or tunnel, thus obviating the necessity of an attendant for such purpose at the target-box and also obviating the necessity of the attendant at the front of the tunnel leaving his post to arrange the target.

A further purpose of the invention is to locate the alarm device outside of the targetbox and to provide means whereby the center or hulls-eye of the target maybe illuminated or rendered dark, as desired.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section through the improved rifle-range. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken practically on the line 3 of Fig. 1. r

A represents a target-box, which may be made of any suitable material and may be of any size, and the top of the said target-box is left open.

The target 10 may be of any desired type and is secured within the target-box, being read the target immediately after held in an upright position. The center or bulls-eye 11 of the target is an opening, and immediately back of the open center or bulls- 5 5 eye of the target a larger and horizontallyalining opening 12 is produced in the back of the target-box, as is shown in Fig. 1. Immediately to the rear of the opening 12 at the rear of the target-box a gong 13 or other form of alarm device is suitably supported in an auxiliary box 14, located at the rear of the main box A, as is shown in both Figs. 1 and 2. Under this construction the alarm device is not within the target-box and is readily ac 6 5 cessible at any time, and said alarm device is sure to be struck by any bullet which passes through the open center of the target, and consequently through the opening 12 at the rear of the target-box.

In order that the center 11 of the target may be rendered dark or may be illuminated, the space between the upper edge of the target and the back of the target-box'is covered by a fixed partition 15 and a door 16, so that 7 5 when the door 16 is closed the center of the target is rendered more or less opaque, and when the door 16 is open the center of the target is illuminated or rendered more or less light.

At each side of the target-box in front of the target 10 transversely-alining openings 17 are produced, normally closed by doors 18,

and when the doors 18 are opened the draft through the target-box in front of the target thus obtained insures that any smoke which may have a tendency to remain in the targetbox will quickly pass out therefrom thus rendering the target clearly visible immediately after a shot. Preferably the bottom of the target 10 is located in a tray 19, transversely placed on the bottom of the target-box A, as is shown in Figs. 1 and 3. This tray is adapted to contain a liquid 20whiting, for any 1 suitable type of liquid employed for coating or painting the face of the target to be fired at. A brush 21 lies normally in front of the target 10, so that the bristles of the face of the target. This brush 21 is preferably secu red either permanently or removably to a frame 22, the ends of which are bent upward and inward over the brush, as is shown example, or

brush will be in engagement with the front zoo said brackets 26.

in Fig. 3. This frame is provided at its ends with rearwardly-extending eyes 23, and the frame and brush are guided in vertical movement up and down in front of the target 10 by means of standards 24,'secured, usually, to the bottom of the tray 19,upon which standards the brush and its supporting-frame are mounted to loosely slide, the brush and supporting-frame having slots produced therein to that end.

The upper ends of the standards 24 are supported by attachment to the upper member of the skeleton frame 25, whose side members are attached to the bottom of the target-box. Horizontal brackets 26 extend rearwardly from the upper ends of the side members of the frame 25, as is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and the trunnions of a roller 27 freely turn in the Cords or ropes 28 or their equivalents are attached to the holder 22 of the brush 21 through the eyes 23, attached to the brush-holder, and the upper ends of these cords or ropes are wound around and are secured to the roller 27 so that when the roller is turned in one direction the brush and its holder are carried upward, causing the brush to distribute the coating material over the front face of thetarget ,both at the upward and downward movement of the brush,and the brush is preferably made to drop to its normal position in the tray 19 by gravity, but is raised through the medium of a rope or cable 29, attached to the roller 27 between its ends and wound thereon in a reverse direction to the ropes or cables 28. This operating-rope 29 for the roller 27 is carried forward through an opening 30 in the front of the target-boxA and over a pulley 31, carried by a shield 32, through which the outer end 33 of the sight tube or tunnel 34 extends, the said outer end 33 being more or less flaring or conical, as is customary. Thus it will be observed that the operator at the mouth of the sight tube or tunnel need simply pull forward on the operating-cord 29 for the roller to carry the brush 21 up in engagement with the target 10,and upon releasing the said rope or cable 29 the brush will drop downward by its own weight into the tray 19.

The inner end 35 of the sight tube or tunnel 34, which is flanged into the opening in the front of the target-box, is separated from the body of the sight tube or tunnel by an annular space 36; but tongues 37, attached to one section of the sight-tube, extend acrossthis space to an engagement with the other section, and in this manner the two sections are connected.

Adjacent to the space 36 in the top of the sight tube or tunnel 34 a series of apertures 38 is produced, and this group of apertures is surrounded by a chimney 39, which is preferably in the shape of the ,frustum of a cone and is provided with openings 40 in its sides.

f WVithin this chimney a lamp 41 is located 011 the said sight-tube, as is best shown in Fig. 1. The heat from the lamp creates a draft and causes the smoke consequent upon a discharge to quickly pass up and out of the tube 34, finding its escape through the openings 40 in the chimney, while any smoke which may have a tendency to remain in the tube will findits escape therefrom through the space 36 between the sections of the tube.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In rifle-ranges, a target-box, a target therein, a sight-tube therefor, means mounted on the tube for creating a draft to clear the said tube of smoke, a receptacle formed outside of and at the rear of the target-box, and an alarm device in said receptacle, the construction being such that access may be had to the alarm device without entering the target-box, substantially as set forth.

2. In rifle-ranges, a target-box, asight-tube attached thereto, a target in said boX having an open center, a heat-generator and a chimney located above said tube, and a partition including a door extending from the upper portion of the said target at its back to the rear of the target-box, whereby the center of the target-box may be illuminated, substantially asset forth.

3. In a rifle-range, a target-box, a sight tube or tunnel attached to the target-box, being in communication therewith, which sight tube or tunnel is constructed in sections, the said sections being connected yet held a distance apart, the said sight tube or tunnel being provided adjacent to a section with apertures, a chimney inclosing the said apertures, which chimney has an open top and openings inits sides, and a generator of heat located within the said chimney, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our 7 WVitnesses:

NOBLE HEATH, M. H. OATTS, MASON W. OAT'rs. 

